To conclude our brief foray into nutrition in this series of
articles, few areas of
nutrition are more controversial than questions around vegetarian vs. meat-based diets.

In my experience, asking the question, "Should I be a vegetarian?" is
like asking whether one should wear a fur coat or not - the answer depends on
whether you're going to the North Pole or an African desert. In other
words, it depends on what you're trying to achieve.

The question is no less prevalent in the realm of
Body Electronics. When I did my
Instructor's training in 1996 I walked away with the firm belief that vegetarian
was best; mind you I had already come to believe that anyway and so it
would be fair to say that this suited by beliefs at that time. I might
add that I had spent the previous 28 or so years convinced that a meal
wasn't a real meal without meat, so I feel I can lay claim to
understanding both ends
of the spectrum.

Certainly, Dr Ray
taught a variety of perspectives in the seven years that I worked with
him. Meals at seminars were by no means vegan and there was the regular
serving of dairy, eggs and fish.

In subsequent years a
lot of information based on the fascinating work of
Dr Weston Price and
Sally Fallon has come to the fore in the Body Electronics community, wherein these two
researchers firmly believe in the essential need for some form of animal
products in the diet. Perhaps ironically, at least for me, organ meats
are rated as the most "nutritious" meats and muscle meats (the type I
always preferred) the least nutritious.

Contradictions abound, researchers do not agree, there are moral arguments for both
sides of the coin - "Should I be a vegetarian?"

Bottom Line

I believe that if different diets
could be divided into higher laws and lower laws there would be no doubt
at all that vegetarian diets must be sided with higher laws - I believe
that the vegetarian diet is a spiritual diet, or at least to say, it is
supportive of a spiritual lifestyle.

However, I also
think that any person who thinks their diet will make them a spiritual
person is well mistaken.
"It is not what goes into your mouth that is important when what comes
out of your mouth in verbal expression defiles you."

In other words, undertaking a vegetarian diet for the sake of your health or
spiritual development without regard for the proper application of other
spiritual laws is akin to jumping into a boat without oars or rudder.

Animal foods are dense
and well suited to a person identified with the lower aspects of nature.
Such a person may live to a ripe old age in comfort on such diets.
Whether this is in their ultimate interest from a wider perspective is
another matter and substantially depends on what use they make of their
health.

In point of fact, a
reasonably healthy person (that is to say, a person not incapacitated by
their ailments, as opposed to a person who has a sense of true
wellbeing) who squanders their opportunity to be constructive may have
more to answer for than a person in seeming poorer health who does their
best to serve others.

Even more controversy?

In my naturopathic training I
was well surprised to find out how much ignorance there is regarding the
question of "meat or no meat?" Discussions always came down to balancing
fats, proteins and carbohydrates or emotive anecdotal evidence.

In retrospect I need not have been so surprised, as most people think of
their diet as a means merely of sustaining their body. "You mean it
isn't?" No, I do not believe so.

As controversial as this
may be, the focus of any given diet for its affect on health is
misplaced. The focus should be on what we do with what we've got and
whether or not a given diet aids us to be as constructive as possible at
whatever level we are at or are capable of reaching.

In practical terms this means that if a person has the mind to do it,
practically any vaguely balanced diet (whatever that is) is capable of
supporting improved health. It is the change of attitude that frequently
accompanies the change of diet that produces a large part of the good.

We eat because we
perceive the necessity to, based on our identification with matter. The
more we are identified with matter, the less beneficial will be the
vegetarian diet, unless we are making some other effort to become less
identified with matter and more identified with spirit.

As an illustration, in chapter 10 of “Autobiography of a Yogi”, the
swami Dyananda berates a young and inexperienced Yogananda (then called
Mukunda) on the subject of food at a time when Yogananda first
experienced a day and a half of fasting, feeling that he might therefore
die.

"Never believe that you live by the power of food and not by the power
of God! He who has created every form of nourishment, He who has
bestowed appetite, will inevitably see that His devotee is maintained.
Do not imagine that rice sustains you nor that money or men support you.
Could they aid if the Lord withdraws your life breath? They are His
instruments merely. Is it by any skill of yours that food digests in
your stomach? Use the sword of your discrimination, Mukunda! Cut through
the chains of agency and perceive the Single Cause!"

Conclusion

In short, for the most part a meat-eater one should only aspire to being a vegetarian if one
also aspires to and applies other spiritual disciplines in life.
If one is then properly nutritionally and mentally prepared (which
frequently is overlooked, since a good vegetarian diet is not simply
abstaining from meat) then
healing crisis
(and all the apparent contradiction that entails) leading to eventual
health of the whole being and spiritual clarity may flow.

If one has no such aspirations and only wishes to have a comfortable body
then it may be that retaining some judiciously chosen animal products in the diet
is a necessity.

It may also be that even the most determined vegetarian may occasionally
benefit from temporary use of animal foods to restore balance in the
body. This is the person who has bitten off more than they can chew
in terms of overestimating their capacity to apply higher laws, not the
person merely looking for something to justify their desires for meat.

Ultimately it is a highly personal question and frequently one
underlined with belief-challenging experiences. This is one area where
nutrition counselling
with a Body Electronics practitioner can be of immense benefit.

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Disclaimer: The information presented on this site has been provided for educational purposes only. While we consider that it is imperative for each person to take full responsibility for their own healing, this should also be under the strict guidance of a properly trained professional who fully understands the Healing Crisis as partially explained on this site.